Nobody Who Uses a Gun as a Cat Toy Has Any Business Owning a Gun
An absolutely chilling and heartbreaking story came out of Tennessee this week, when an 8-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his 5-year-old brother with a gun that his father left within their reach. The father reportedly said the gun was kept in the house “for protection,” but he had actually been using it as a cat toy. Seriously.
According to WNCN, the father was using the laser sight on his loaded gun to play with the family cat, in front of his 8-year-old and 5-year-old boys. Then he decided to go into the kitchen and “forgot to put the firearm out of the children’s reach.”
The 8-year-old wanted to play with the cat and the laser, too, so he picked up the gun. But he reportedly did not know how the laser sight worked and accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting and killing his little brother.
This is an unbelievably tragic story. A little boy is dead, and another’s life is ruined forever. How does an 8-year-old grow up after something like this happens? He’s always going to remember that he shot and killed his own little brother, but in this case the fault lies with the father who thought it was a cute idea to leave two little kids alone with a loaded, unlocked gun that he’d just been using as a toy.
(Photo: MichaelRothPhotography/iStockPhoto/Getty Images)